LEXINGTON, Ky.—What we learned as Kentucky recovered from foul trouble and a late deficit to record a stunning 61-57 SEC victory over No. 11 Florida on Senior Day at Rupp Arena—a win that kept alive UK's hopes for an NCAA at-large bid:

The Wildcats had their moment

On the Rupp Arena scoreboards before the game, Kentucky played a video talking about all the great “moments” in the program’s history. How many SEC championship “moments” and “shining moments” the Wildcats have achieved.

When freshman guard Archie Goodwin jumped the passing lane and went the distance for a dunk to give UK a 30-29 lead with two minutes left in the first half, it seemed like that was what would be. Regardless of consequence in the chase for an NCAA Tournament bid, if the Wildcats could somehow pull off an upset of the Gators in the final home game of 2012-13, perhaps this could be their moment.

That thought faded after center Willie Cauley-Stein picked up a fourth personal foul early in the second half and Florida surged into a commanding lead, but it was reignited when Goodwin executed an almost identical steal with 4:50 left in the game and brought UK back to a two-point deficit.

By then, it had been nearly three minutes since Florida had scored. And that never changed. Kentucky held Florida scoreless for the final 7:36.

"I knew from the get-go that we were going to be able to do that," Goodwin said. "When we played against Missouri, we were down 10 at one point and we came back and won the game. It was just another one of those type moments where we got down, but we just had to fight and withstand that run. And we did."

Kentucky’s celebration of Senior Day often is mocked given the number of freshmen who’ve rolled through and stayed only a year. And Julius Mays is not a conventional senior. He, too, as a graduate transfer from Wright State, has been here only a year. But his two free throws with 10 seconds left gave UK a four-point margin that effectively sealed the game.

"I have had big moments in my college career, but that one was probably my biggest one because we needed that win more than anything to keep our hopes alive," Mays said. "I told coach when we went into that timeout that I wanted the ball. He didn't draw the play the way I ran it, but I wanted that ball and I wanted to shoot those free throws."

Cauley-Stein a star

With 13:42 left, Florida center Patric Young was set up on the left block as the ball was held on the opposite wing, Young tried to make a move to flash in front of Cauley-Stein, and as he went there was the predictable jostling that occurs along a Division I baseline.

The officials working the game saw a foul.

The Wildcats were ahead 45-38 at that moment, certainly not an insurmountable lead against one of the nation’s best teams. But UK coach John Calipari had to remove Cauley-Stein from the game, and that was could have been an insurmountable loss for the Wildcats.

Cauley-Stein was on the bench for less than three minutes, but that was more than enough time for Florida to take the lead. The Gators stretched it to as much as 57-50 on a 3-pointer by point guard Scottie Wilbekin with, indeed, 7:36 left. Remarkably, that was the last point Florida would score.

Cauley-Stein returned just before the 11-minute mark and was in for nearly the rest of the game, playing gingerly at times to avoid the fifth foul but never tentatively. He got away with one likely foul late in the game that certainly could have turned the momentum for the Gators. But given the dubious nature of his third and fourth fouls, it probably evened out.

Cauley-Stein finished with six points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

That just shows how little statistics sometimes can mean. His presence beneath the goal was immense, contributing to Florida’s shooting 0-for-11 after that Wilbekin 3-pointer.

A new call

With 4:07 left, UK point guard Ryan Harrow drove down the left side of the foul lane and was bumped as he came to a jump-stop and floated the ball toward the rim—where it was gathered in by Cauley-Stein and slammed through the goal.

Officials waved off that basket and called Young for a foul against Harrow. They then awarded Harrow two free throws, even though it was only Florida’s eighth team foul of the second half.

Harrow’s intention seemed quite obvious: A lob pass to Cauley-Stein. But the officials judged it had been an errant shot.

So this might have been the first instance of two free throws being awarded for a foul in the act of passing. Those two shots Harrow made tied the game at 57-all.

UK fans follow their leader

Late Friday night, Calipari sent a message through his Twitter account asking fans at Rupp Arena to stand at the eight-minute media timeout and remain on their feet through the rest of the game.

Yep, they did it, all 24,294 of them. During timeouts, some took a break, but when the ball was live they were back on their feet.

"They swam like heck," Calipari said of his young Wildcats' 'sink or swim' game. "In the last seven minutes, when it was in doubt, they swam like heck. When you're going to drown, you want to die, don't swim. If you want to live, the life raft is over there, you've got to swim to it.

"As a matter of fact, it's kind of breezing away from you, so you're going to have to swim real hard, and they did."

How to use Murphy

In the first half, Florida forward Erik Murphy fired seven shots and hit four, including 1-of-3 from 3-point range. It’s hard to believe that’s nearly the average of shot attempts he gets in a game. Murphy hits 53.4 percent from the field and 46.5 percent from long distance, but he’s only third among the Gators in shot attempts.

Let’s be 100 percent honest about this: Florida is not going to shot-jack its way to an NCAA title. If the Gators are to win it, it’ll be because Murphy and Young are complemented by the trio of perimeter scorers.

At 6-10, 238 pounds and with the shooting range of a wing player, Murphy is as difficult a matchup as there is in college basketball. Almost as if by habit, from years of having few inviting inside options, the Gators sometimes fail even too look at Murphy at times when he presents himself as the best option.

"Everybody had some good shots that they could have made and we just missed them," Murphy said. "They stopped us, played defense and caused some misses. That's what happens."

Young’s jumphook is worth a try

Through 20 minutes against UK, Young was 3-of-4 from the field, including two picture-perfect jumphooks. That was the amazing thing about the Florida operation: While Young and Murphy were hitting 7-of-11, everybody else was shooting 6-of-20 on the way to a 31-all tie.

Were it not for Cauley-Stein’s foul trouble and occasional inability to sustain energy, Florida might have found itself in serious jeopardy in a game where it owned considerable physical superiority in the frontcourt.

The Gators will go as far in the NCAA Tournament as it allows its big men to take them.

Boynton should know better

Generally, what Kenny Boynton has done for Florida in his four years with the Gators has been remarkable. He has scored nearly 2,000 career points. He has played defense with incredible tenacity, contributing to the Gators’ No. 2 rating in defensive efficiency.

But when Florida got the ball down two points with 25 seconds left, it seemed almost inevitable that Boynton would wind up taking the game’s decisive shot, and that it would not be of considerable quality. As expected, Boynton pulled up off the dribble and fired a guarded 18-footer, which rolled off the rim, leaving him 4-of-10 for nine points.

In the days when Florida’s attack was pretty much limited to Boynton and tiny Erving Walker firing shots and asking the bigs to chase rebounds, this was understandable. But those days should be gone.

Wiltjer’s confidence is shot

With Florida trapping ball screens even when set for former walk-on point guard Jarrod Polson, Kentucky tried repeatedly to involve Kyle Wiltjer in pick-and-pop plays. But the slightest sign of defensive discouragement ruined just about every one of them.

Even when Wiltjer finally did fire, from the right corner with 5:09 left, it was obviously the shot was launched more out of obligation than belief.

Wiltjer still is hitting 38.2 percent from 3-point range, but since his role grew in importance subsequent to the Nerlens Noel injury, he has made just 6-of-27 in UK’s final seven games, including a 0-for-3 on Saturday afternoon.

Given his obvious defensive deficiencies—when engaged in a pick-and-roll defense, Wiltjer invariably manages to give the ballhandler the necessary step to the goal—he becomes a liability if not hitting shots. Wiltjer is something Calipari plays because he’s another tall guy, and UK is short on them because of Noel’s injury.

"I think they are good enough talent-wise to play with anybody," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "Can they beat anybody? Absolutely, they are talented and gifted enough. But I think they're still learning to play without Nerlens."